111 / The Skilful Huntsman
THERE was once a young fellow who had learnt the trade of locksmith, and
told his father he would now go out into the world and seek his fortune.
"Very well," said the father, "I am quite content with that," and gave
him some money for his journey. So he travelled about and looked for
work. After a time he resolved not to follow the trade of locksmith any
more, for he no longer liked it, but he took a fancy for hunting. Then
there met him in his rambles a huntsman dressed in green, who asked whence
he came and whither he was going? The youth said he was a locksmith's
apprentice, but that the trade no longer pleased him, and he had a liking
for huntsmanship, would he teach it to him? "Oh, yes," said the huntsman,
"if thou wilt go with me." Then the young fellow went with him, bound
himself to him for some years, and learnt the art of hunting. After this
he wished to try his luck elsewhere, and the huntsman gave him nothing in
the way of payment but an air-gun, which had, however, this property, that
it hit its mark without fail whenever he shot with it. Then he set out
and found himself in a very large forest, which he could not get to the
end of in one day. When evening came he seated himself in a high tree in
order to escape from the wild beasts. Towards midnight, it seemed to him
as if a tiny little light glimmered in the distance. Then he looked down
through the branches towards it, and kept well in his mind where it was.
But in the first place he took off his hat and threw it down in the
direction of the light, so that he might go to the hat as a mark when he
had descended. Then he got down and went to his hat, put it on again and
went straight forwards. The farther he went, the larger the light grew,
and when he got close to it he saw that it was an enormous fire, and that
three giants were sitting by it, who had an ox on the spit, and were
roasting it. Presently one of them said, "I must just taste if the meat
will soon be fit to eat," and pulled a piece off, and was about to put it
in his mouth when the huntsman shot it out of his hand. "Well, really,"
said the giant, "if the wind has not blown the bit out of my hand!" and
helped himself to another. But when he was just about to bite into it,
the huntsman again shot it away from him. On this the giant gave the one
who was sitting next him a box on the ear, and cried angrily, “Why art
thou snatching my piece away from me?" "I have not snatched it away,"
said the other, "a sharpshooter must have shot it away from thee." The
giant took another piece, but could not, however, keep it in his hand, for
the huntsman shot it out. Then the giant said, "That must be a good shot
to shoot the bit out of one's very mouth, such an one would be useful to
us." And he cried aloud, "Come here, thou sharpshooter, seat thyself at
the fire beside us and eat thy fill, we will not hurt thee; but if thou
wilt not come, and we have to bring thee by force, thou art a lost man!"
On this the youth went up to them and told them he was a skilled huntsman,
and that whatever he aimed at with his gun, he was certain to hit. Then
they said if he would go with them he should be well treated, and they
told him that outside the forest there was a great lake, behind which
stood a tower, and in the tower was imprisoned a lovely princess, whom
they wished very much to carry off. "Yes," said he, "I will soon get her
for you." Then they added, "But there is still something else, there is a
tiny little dog, which begins to bark directly any one goes near, and as
soon as it barks every one in the royal palace wakens up, and for this
reason we cannot get there; canst thou undertake to shoot it dead?"
"Yes," said he, "that will be a little bit of fun for me." After this he
got into a boat and rowed over the lake, and as soon as he landed, the
little dog came running out, and was about to bark, but the huntsman took
his air-gun and shot it dead. When the giants saw that, they rejoiced,
and thought they already had the King's daughter safe, but the huntsman
wished first to see how matters stood, and told them that they must stay
outside until he called them. Then he went into the castle, and all was
perfectly quiet within, and every one was asleep. When he opened the door
of the first room, a sword was hanging on the wall which was made of pure
silver, and there was a golden star on it, and the name of the King, and
on a table near it lay a sealed letter which he broke open, and inside it
was written that whosoever had the sword could kill everything which
opposed him. So he took the sword from the wall, hung it at his side and
went onwards: then he entered the room where the King's daughter was lying
sleeping, and she was so beautiful that he stood still and, holding his
breath, looked at her. He thought to himself, "How can I give an innocent
maiden into the power of the wild giants, who have evil in their minds?”
He looked about further, and under the bed stood a pair of slippers, on
the right one was her father's name with a star, and on the left her own
name with a star. She wore also a great neck-kerchief of silk embroidered
with gold, and on the right side was her father's name, and on the left
her own, all in golden letters. Then the huntsman took a pair of scissors
and cut the right corner off, and put it in his knapsack, and then he also
took the right slipper with the King's name, and thrust that in. Now the
maiden still lay sleeping, and she was quite sewn into her night-dress,
and he cut a morsel from this also, and thrust it in with the rest, but he
did all without touching her. Then he went forth and left her lying
asleep undisturbed, and when he came to the gate again, the giants were
still standing outside waiting for him, and expecting that he was bringing
the princess. But he cried to them that they were to come in, for the
maiden was already in their power, that he could not open the gate to
them, but there was a hole through which they must creep. Then the first
approached, and the huntsman wound the giant's hair round his hand, pulled
the head in, and cut it off at one stroke with his sword, and then drew
the rest of him in. He called to the second and cut his head off
likewise, and then he killed the third also, and he was well pleased that
he had freed the beautiful maiden from her enemies, and he cut out their
tongues and put them in his knapsack. Then thought he, "I will go home to
my father and let him see what I have already done, and afterwards I will
travel about the world; the luck which God is pleased to grant me will
easily find me."
But when the King in the castle awoke, he saw the three giants lying there
dead. So he went into the sleeping-room of his daughter, awoke her, and
asked who could have killed the giants? Then said she, "Dear father, I
know not, I have been asleep." But when she arose and would have put on
her slippers, the right one was gone, and when she looked at her
neck-kerchief it was cut, and the right corner was missing, and when she
looked at her night-dress a piece was cut out of it. The King summoned
his whole court together, soldiers and every one else who was there, and
asked who had set his daughter at liberty, and killed the giants? Now it
happened that he had a captain, who was one-eyed and a hideous man, and he
said that he had done it. Then the old King said that as he had
accomplished this, he should marry his daughter. But the maiden said,
"Rather than marry him, dear father, I will go away into the world as far
as my legs can carry me." But the King said that if she would not marry
him she should take off her royal garments and wear peasant's clothing,
and go forth, and that she should go to a potter, and begin a trade in
earthen vessels. So she put off her royal apparel, and went to a potter
and borrowed crockery enough for a stall, and she promised him also that
if she had sold it by the evening, she would pay for it. Then the King
said she was to seat herself in a corner with it and sell it, and he
arranged with some peasants to drive over it with their carts, so that
everything should be broken into a thousand pieces. When therefore the
King's daughter had placed her stall in the street, by came the carts, and
broke all she had into tiny fragments. She began to weep and said, "Alas,
how shall I ever pay for the pots now?" The King had, however, wished by
this to force her to marry the captain; but instead of that, she again
went to the potter, and asked him if he would lend to her once more. He
said, "No," she must first pay for the things she had already had. Then
she went to her father and cried and lamented, and said she would go forth
into the world. Then said he, "I will have a little hut built for thee in
the forest outside, and in it thou shalt stay all thy life long and cook
for every one, but thou shalt take no money for it.” When the hut was
ready, a sign was hung on the door whereon was written, "To-day given,
to-morrow sold." There she remained a long time, and it was rumoured
about the world that a maiden was there who cooked without asking for
payment, and that this was set forth on a sign outside her door. The
huntsman heard it likewise, and thought to himself, "That would suit thee.
Thou art poor, and hast no money." So he took his air-gun and his
knapsack, wherein all the things which he had formerly carried away with
him from the castle as tokens of his truthfulness were still lying, and
went into the forest, and found the hut with the sign, "To-day given,
to-morrow sold." He had put on the sword with which he had cut off the
heads of the three giants, and thus entered the hut, and ordered something
to eat to be given to him. He was charmed with the beautiful maiden, who
was indeed as lovely as any picture. She asked him whence he came and
whither he was going, and he said, "I am roaming about the world.” Then
she asked him where he had got the sword, for that truly her father's name
was on it. He asked her if she were the King's daughter. "Yes," answered
she. "With this sword," said he, "did I cut off the heads of three
giants." And he took their tongues out of his knapsack in proof. Then he
also showed her the slipper, and the corner of the neck-kerchief, and the
bit of the night-dress. Hereupon she was overjoyed, and said that he was
the one who had delivered her. On this they went together to the old
King, and fetched him to the hut, and she led him into her room, and told
him that the huntsman was the man who had really set her free from the
giants. And when the aged King saw all the proofs of this, he could no
longer doubt, and said that he was very glad he knew how everything had
happened, and that the huntsman should have her to wife, on which the
maiden was glad at heart. Then she dressed the huntsman as if he were a
foreign lord, and the King ordered a feast to be prepared. When they went
to table, the captain sat on the left side of the King's daughter, but the
huntsman was on the right, and the captain thought he was a foreign lord
who had come on a visit. When they had eaten and drunk, the old King said
to the captain that he would set before him something which he must guess.
"Supposing any one said that he had killed the three giants and he were
asked where the giants' tongues were, and he were forced to go and look,
and there were none in their heads, how could that happen?" The captain
said, "Then they cannot have had any." "Not so," said the King. "Every
animal has a tongue," and then he likewise asked what any one would
deserve who made such an answer? The captain replied, "He ought to be
torn in pieces.” Then the King said he had pronounced his own sentence and
the captain was put in prison and then torn in four pieces; but the
King's daughter was married to the huntsman. After this he brought his
father and mother, and they lived with their son in happiness, and after
the death of the old King he received the kingdom.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret Hunt
(London:
George Bell, 1884), 2:102-106.
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Last modified 30 May 2003